


i want to hold the hand inside you

by ElasticElla



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cho-Centric, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21739330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: Cho is not freaking out.Cedric and Harrybothasked her to the Yule Ball, and there’s no one to commiserate with.
Relationships: Cho Chang/Luna Lovegood
Comments: 10
Kudos: 58
Collections: Hogwarts House Switch - Ball - Games -- Dec 2019/Jan 2020





	i want to hold the hand inside you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SkyRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyRose/gifts).



> title from mazzy star's fade into you; i made a few minor tweaks to canon for plot reasons
> 
> for [sapphic stocking stuffers](https://elasticella.dreamwidth.org/25483.html), come join us \o/

Cho is not freaking out. 

Cedric and Harry _both_ asked her to the Yule Ball, and there’s no one to commiserate with. Marietta is the only one that wouldn’t spread her reaction around the school, and she already knows what Mari would say. (‘Cedric is the real champion, and he isn’t shorter than you.’)

She should feel excited about going with one of them, either of them, but all she feels is dread. Harry would be crushed if she went with Cedric, and Cedric- Cedric would probably read more into it than she is feeling. (It’s been three years since they’ve played catch the snitch together, it feels like she doesn’t even know Ced anymore.)

Sitting in the nearly empty Ravenclaw common room, it is time for dinner isn’t it, Cho is certainly not hiding from her problems nor the public, nor is she freaking out. She’s also not doing her Transfiguration homework, but that isn’t due for another week.

“You should take me.” 

“Hmm?” Cho looks up to see Luna Lovegood. Most of the lower years she doesn’t know by sight, but it’s hard to forget a girl with radishes in her ears. Or the girl who reigned supreme over the Ravenclaw chess tournament as a _first_ year and then declined to ever play again because ‘her pieces were happier having tea parties’. (Some of the other kids were mad about that demanding rematches, and Luna just skipped away.)

“To the ball, otherwise I can’t go.” 

And Cho’s eyes widen at the implication, wonders if Luna herself even realizes the most perfect olive branch she offered. This way she’s taking a younger friend who couldn’t go to the ball otherwise, and she doesn’t have to choose between the boys- how perfect. 

“Well we can’t have that. You’ll have to come with me.” 

Luna’s demeanor doesn’t change in the slightest, still wearing that curious smile. “I’ll be in silver.”

.

A month later, Cho’s spinning Luna around in her arms, the girl resplendent in silver. She went with traditional white dressrobes for herself, lined in silver, and they make quite the stunning pair. They capture nearly as many onlookers as Cedric and Harry- and isn’t that an amusing turn of events- and Cho tells herself the butterflies are from all the attention. 

(One day, she’ll learn how to lie to herself better. She is a raven, she can become gifted in anything.)

.

Whoever invented standardized testing was an absolute bastard, and at this rate, her head is going to implode before she ever takes the O.W.L.s. Does she even _need_ potions on her resume? She doesn’t want to go into potioneering, and she can make all the basic health ones. It isn’t like-

“Oh. Oh dear, you’re surrounded by salt-water salkines.” 

Cho smothers a giggle, must be delirious, “Am I now?” 

Luna nods rapidly, her earrings are bells today and they chime with the motion. “Mhmm, you ought to go outside.” 

“Only if you come with me,” Cho says, and Luna agrees. 

Arms linked, they head outside, and honestly, Cho feels better simply by being away from her multi-colored to do list. “So tell me about these salines.” 

“Salkines,” Luna corrects. “Originally bred in Australia, they are the offspring of Perseverance and Duty. The salt-water sub-species came about through an amusing confrontation with a nymph-” 

(By the time Luna finishes her history, they’re seated by the lake, and Cho is genuinely happy, relaxed even.)

.

Of course, such moods do not last, not when the exams are still looming. And then the last task happens, and Ced dies and _fuck_. 

She should’ve been a better friend, should have kept in touch, should have---

.

Sixth year means no major exams, and quidditch is back on the field. 

It still sucks. 

There’s the D.A., which is alright and Luna’s somehow become one of her closest friends with Mari, and they’re both in it with her. Things are decent enough, if Cho ignores everything happening in the world, and then Umbridge forces the secret out of Mari- knowing her parents’ ministry positions, the toad, and Mari ends up with a horrific scar. 

(Hermione Granger may be brilliant, but she’s _scary_. Cho can’t imagine any of her own friends ever using such a jinx.)

Luna creates a giant lion hat to cheer for Gryffindor, and Cho very calmly and sedately praises her spellwork. She does _not_ voice any of her thoughts about how Luna should be supporting her- Ravenclaw that is- at the matches. 

Mari has unfortunately discovered her fondness, totally platonic fondness that is, for Luna, teases her about it. (It's rare to see Marietta smile after the scarring incident, that's the only reason Cho doesn't stop her.)

. 

Seventh year passes in a whirlwind, and suddenly they’re all graduating. Suddenly that gossip column in _Witch Weekly_ becomes real, and she has to figure out a pen name. Suddenly, she’s looking at apartments in a muggle village with Mari because ‘it’s only a five minute walk to the apparition point, and the rent is dirt cheap’. 

Just like that, and her life completely changes. 

. 

She gets the first note in August, sitting at her desk and trying to think of another five hundred words on the new Sleekeazy line. 

_Cho-_

_There’s been a dearth of opiritus in the garden this summer, which reminded me you won’t be returning to Hogwarts this fall. A dreary prospect, and the garden is nearly monotone with it. I suppose I’m writing this all out of order: how are you enjoying the job? I heard you’ve been doing very well, as Daddy and I are out of country, I haven’t been able to get a clean copy of the magazine. Do you remember that afternoon I introduced you to the dryads? They really loved you, I bet they miss you dearly. I’m afraid I’m running out of ink but I do hope the constellations are clear above you, the ground firm below you._

_~Luna_

Cho ends up finishing the Sleekeazy article the following morning, spends the rest of the day penning a response to Luna. (It’s too personal, she doesn’t send it. Then the next one too distant, and the third she gives up and calls it a day, tucking in the latest _Witch Weekly_ with it.)

.

Everything gets scary, scarier really after that. She hears horror stories from her coworkers with children at Hogwarts, penning increasingly frantic letters to Luna. Offers her a place to stay, to hide, whatever she needs. 

Luna declines, politely but firm, says she can’t run away from this. 

And those words strip her to the core, and Cho weeps, terrified the next name she reads in the Prophet will be hers. (The things she’s heard about the Carrows, those horrid people, would love to steal all of Luna’s luminescence.) 

The end is coming, everyone knows it. It’s only a question of when and where. 

Luna’s next note is simple. 

_Tomorrow, Hogwarts._  
_Love, Luna_

Marietta and her apparate that night, find a whole field of alums ready to fight. They aren’t to go inside- to tip off He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named- but Cho highly doubts none of his spies have seen the gathering. 

Then again, she would’ve expected the bastard Carrows to come out wands blazing. 

.

Cho kills four people the next day. Maybe more. But four she is sure of. 

_Diffindo. Reducto. Depulso. Accio._

She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t knock them out, or immobilize them, she didn’t-

She wants to snap her wand. 

.

She doesn’t. 

Snap her wand that is. She still hasn’t decided if that’s a sign of strength or weakness, or both. She does get a new job in the muggle world as a copy-editor. 

Marietta, bless her soul, doesn’t try to talk her out of it. She makes a joke about joining her, about being unknown for once, but there’s no follow through. Mari seems to be happier, which is odd but good, and then a little while later she finds out about Mari’s new girlfriend Parkinson. 

It makes her think of Luna, which is silly, they never dated. Cho writes her a letter that night, but it feels too close to a diary entry, tucks it into her journal instead. 

.

“It’s the two year anniversary, you have to go! If you don’t I’ll be stuck fielding questions all night if you’re single.” 

Cho snorts, doesn’t bother looking up from her laptop and typing all the quicker. (Weasley’s magi-proof tech charm is _genius_.) “Uh huh.” 

“If you don’t I’m setting you up on another blind date-” 

“Don’t you dare Mari-” 

“-Pansy has this friend, they’re super handsome, rich-”

“-I’ll go to the stupid reunion!” 

Marietta grins, “Perfect. Now you just need to find a date.” 

Cho groans, deleting her last sentence that went totally off-topic. “You’re the worst.” 

“You love me,” Mari sing-songs, summoning a take out menu. 

And Cho remembers another event someone was too young to sneak into, wonders if she might be tempted once more. 

.

Luna’s reply is simple as it is swift: _as long as we get to say we’re married._

There’s no explanation given, and really Cho doesn’t need one, is already thinking up first date stories. 

(A few years later, and that becomes their real first date story: making up wildly implausible but believed tales about how they started dating, and by then, Luna wears a silver ring Cho charmed herself.)


End file.
